Posted on November 26, 2023November 26, 202311/26/2023 caliche looking alright The caliche from home does have a lot more seedlings sprouting now that look promising. For this year, the remaining big plants are a little bluestem and a Solidago rigidiscula!
Posted on October 7, 2023October 7, 202310/02/2023 feeding the world Probably Solidago rigidiuscula (thanks for ID, Mom!). This was an accidental but fortunate stowaway in the caliche from TX home! Heavy work, feeding the neighborhood. The maxes hadn’t fully dropped yet here like they did after the rain.
Posted on September 16, 2023September 16, 202309/16/2023 nice out I hope the Lizardtail gaura is firmly established after this year. There are multiple plants flowering and going to seed in several places around the yard. Wild annual sunflowers blooming in the background. Blue mistflower is blooming! Before I took the picture it had a bee fly and several tiny bees on it but they did not like my camera phone coming up close. The fall obedient plants from a coworker are considering blooming. I put several around the yard and this one by the friendly moisture of the bird bath is doing best. The Texas mallow has been blooming regularly in the dry shade. Paula saw a hummingbird feeding at one a few weeks ago. My Canada goldenrod from Abby is doing well and just started to bloom!
Posted on September 24, 202209/24/2022 seedlings and fall flowers Wild tepary bean has a flower! Mystery seedling. I put a lot out here of many species so it gets to be a surprise unless someone recognizes it. I suspect this is an Illinois bundleflower as I distributed a lot of them. The big leafy seedling looks neat and is accompanied by a spotted euphorbia and maybe a blurry lyre leaf sage? An almost metallic little moth on the goldenrod from Abby (probably S. canadensis). Mom saw a similar one recently at home on frostweed. Possibly a Ceratina bee on the mistflowers.
Posted on April 23, 2022April 23, 202204/23 checking on the backyard Blackberry has started blooming. Native currant continues blooming. Probably non native oxalis that was here already. Maybe baby Salvia coccinea by the oak. No idea. Lyre leaf sage has just started blooming. Giant ragweed baby (self seeded from last year’s volunteer). Not sure who this friend is on the other side of dividing fence. Frostweed is coming back. The extra Maximilian sunflower we planted seems to be thriving. A type of Solanaceae, I forget which one, but native. A volunteer. A pokeweed coming up! Always good for the birds. The right half of the clump is goldenrod that was already here. The left half is something non native but I forget what. The fancy something is going to bloom though I guess. I remember it’s not native anyways. So eventually it will probably go. New Clematis is surviving. New from yesterday Cleome (Rocky mountain bee plant) is still alive. Rattlebox from yesterday settling in fine. Wild onions from home in front. I’m becoming convinced this is the New Jersey tea I put out last year. Ironweed leaves around it. Showy evening primroses are starting! Frog fruit I transferred from prairie area to east of the patio appears to have taken root. A seedling that probably got transplanted from home. 🤷🤞🤞 I seeded a native lawn mix in this area and I believe this is the buffalo grass. The other item in the mix was blue grama grass; hopefully this is it. The fragrant sumac was starting to wilt again so I gave it some water in a pot to leak out slightly slower.
Posted on April 17, 2022April 17, 2022Checking up on fall garden intervention Faithful blog readers may recall a Garden Intervention last fall. Today we delivered a few more plants (coral honeysuckle and Mexican plum) and checked up on the previous plantings. Here’s one of the showy evening primrose! Doesn’t have the red spots but I think this is the other showy evening primrose. It’s in the right spot. Several patches of Maximilian sunflower are doing great. An interesting mystery plant I haven’t seen in my yard. Please comment if you know what it might be! Possibly a baby Rudbeckia from the seed mixes that the resident humans have tried? We made a second visit later in the winter to plant more sunflowers, plus goldenrod and Englemann daisies from Abby. Here’s the goldenrod! All the Englemann daisies we planted had leaves. Thank goodness the Doggie is home again!!
Posted on September 6, 2021September 7, 2021Holiday Sunday An outdoor dinner. Garden basil and oregano. Moved the chives and garlic chives that Judy gave me last year. Maybe they’ll like this spot better. Uzbek golden, little, and New Kuroda carrots. Gram helps me get seeds out. Fall seeds planted of cabbage, mizuna, greens, and cauliflower. Tomatoes and peppers for overwintering. And a few pots of Roman chamomile for the front yard ground cover. This is where I shall attempt peppers and tomatoes over the winter. This goldenrod was already here and is doing very nicely. A giant 1″+ horsefly on a backyard window sill. Never going outside again. I lied. Outside again. Chiltepin peppers. Frostweed doing alright after it died back earlier in summer. A little spider got this Eastern Tailed-Blue on the englemann daisy. Texas mallow blooming! The non native clematis. I’ll clean it out over the winter. Okra flower A bumblebee on the okra!
Posted on August 26, 2021August 26, 2021Weekend things Texas mallow might bloom soon? Goldenrod from Abby thinking about blooming too. A pupa! I bet the Black Swallowtail. Side view. Tepary beans begin! New crystals from Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge! Closeup of two fancy selenite crystals.